Professional Documents
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BUYING A HOME
SPRING 2015
EDITION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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BUYING A HOME?
CONSIDER COST NOT JUST PRICE
As a seller, you will be most concerned about short term price where home values are
headed over the next six months. As a buyer, you must be concerned not about price but
instead about the long term cost of the home. Let us explain.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the National Association of Realtors, Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac all projected that mortgage interest rates will increase by approximately three
quarters of a percentage point over the next twelve months. Many experts are calling for
home prices to also increase over the next year.
What Does This Mean as a Buyer?
Here is a simple demonstration of what impact an interest rate increase would have on the
mortgage payment of a home selling for approximately $250,000 today if home prices
appreciate by the 4.4% predicted by the experts in the Home Price Expectation Survey:
Mortgage
Interest Rate
Payment (P&I)
Today
$250,000
3.86%
$1,173.45
Next Spring
$261,000
4.7%
$1,353.64
$180.19
Monthly
Annually
Over 30 Years
$180.19
$2,162.28
$64,868
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Looking at the breakdown by state, you can see that each state is appreciating at different rates. This
is important to know if you are planning on relocating to a different area of the country. Waiting to
move may end up costing you more!
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As you can see interest rates are projected to increase steadily over the course of 2015.
How Will This Impact Your Mortgage Payment?
Depending on the amount of the loan that you secure, a half of a percent (.5%) increase in
interest rate can increase your monthly mortgage payment significantly.
Waiting to secure the home of your dreams may mean having to tighten the budget, or
sacrificing on luxuries that may be taken for granted today.
The experts predict that home prices will appreciate by 4.4% over the course of 2015. If both
predictions become reality, families would wind up paying considerably more for their home.
Bottom Line
Even a small increase in interest rate can impact your familys wealth. Meet with a local real
estate professional to evaluate your ability to purchase your dream home.
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GETTING A MORTGAGE:
WHY SO MUCH PAPERWORK?
Why is there so much paperwork mandated by
the bank for a mortgage loan application when
buying a home today? It seems that the bank
needs to know everything about us and
requires three separate sources to validate
each and every entry on the application form.
Many buyers are being told by friends and
family that the process was a hundred times
easier when they bought their home ten to
twenty years ago.
There are two very good reasons that the loan
process is much more onerous on todays
buyer than perhaps any time in history.
1. The government has set new guidelines that now demand that the bank prove beyond any
doubt that you are indeed capable of paying the mortgage.
During the run-up in the housing market, many people qualified for mortgages that they could never
pay back. This led to millions of families losing their homes. The government wants to make sure this
cant happen again.
2. The banks dont want to be in the real estate business.
Over the last seven years, banks were forced to take on the responsibility of liquidating millions of
foreclosures and also negotiating another million+ short sales. Just like the government, they dont
want more foreclosures. For that reason, they need to double (maybe even triple) check everything on
the application.
However, there is some good news in the situation.
The housing crash that mandated that banks be extremely strict on paperwork requirements also
allowed you to get a mortgage interest rate probably around 4%.
The friends and family who bought homes ten or twenty years ago experienced a simpler mortgage
application process but also paid a higher interest rate (the average 30 year fixed rate mortgage was
8.12% in the 1990s and 6.29% in the 2000s).
If you went to the bank and offered to pay 7% instead of approximately 4%, they would probably bend
over backwards to make the process much easier.
Bottom Line
Instead of concentrating on the additional paperwork required, lets be thankful that we are able to
buy a home at historically low rates.
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Here are the top responses broken into the Financial & Non-Financial Aspects.
91%
90%
89%
86%
81%
76%
It is a sign of success
76%
74%
60%
Financial Aspects
86%
80%
77%
Homeownership
provides protection
against rent increases
Homeownership is an
investment opportunity that
builds long-term wealth
Homeownership
provides stability and/or
financial security
Bottom Line
No matter what reasons ring true with you, meeting with a local real estate professional to
evaluate your situation is the first step on the path to obtaining everything on this list.
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Reasons to Hire a
Real Estate Professional
They help with all disclosures and paperwork
necessary in todays heavily regulated environment.
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Bottom Line
The Fed study found that homeownership is
still a great way for a family to build wealth
in America.
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Back in 2011, gold was the most popular long-term investment among Americans. However,
with the housing market improving across the U.S. and home prices rising, more Americans
now consider real estate the best option for long-term investments.
The poll also revealed that real estate was considered to be the best long term investment by
all four subgroups by age and two out of three by income:
By Age Group
First Choice
Second Choice
18-29 years
30-49 years
50-64 years
Gold 28%
65+ years
First Choice
Second Choice
$30k to $74,999
Gold 26%
Gold 31%
By Income
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